Danny returns from Basra to a foreign England and a different kind of battle. He visits and old flame, buys a gun and goes on a blistering trip through the new home front.

Images of Motortown - August 2008

Sam Clark and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Sam Clark, Kathryn Fray and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Sam Clark, Kathryn Fray and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Sam Clark, Kathryn Fray and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Sam Clark, Kathryn Fray and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Yvette Walker and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Yvette Walker and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Yvette Walker and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Yvette Walker and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Yvette Walker and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Robert Thwaites and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Robert Thwaites and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Sam Clark and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Sam Clark and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Cast
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Cast
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Norman Doyle and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Yvette Walker
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Norman Doyle and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Robert Thwaitesr and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

Robert Thwaites and Chris Power
Photo: Morgan Roberts

MOTORTOWN - Review - courier mail

Motortown a harrowing theatre experience
The Courier Mail

Sue Gough
August 12, 2008

MOTORTOWN is the most disturbing piece of theatre you'll see this year.
It was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2006 and had a number of overseas productions. Following the same trajectory as that classic soldier's tale, Woyzeck, it's rendered in the grim and gritty tradition of Trainspotting or the more recent English television series Skins. The playwright, Simon Stephens, ostensibly lays bare the fallout of "the war on terror", and in doing so implicates not only the Western world but even the audience. But at its heart this is a play about rage and his script has a fascinating synchronicity with Germaine Greer's recent essay on the same subject.

Danny (Chris Power) is an English squaddie who has just returned from Basra and is staying with his autistic brother Lee (Robert Thwaites). Danny's one-time girlfriend Marley (Kathryn Fray) has sussed he has become mad, bad and dangerous to know and gives him the flick. He gets a disarmed gun from his old mate Tom (Sam Clark) and has it restored by sleazy pedophile philosopher Paul (Norman Doyle). Abducting Paul's 14-year-old girlfriend Jade (Yvette Walker), Danny embarks on a course of frenzied, sadistic rage.
This is the stuff that Greek tragedies were made of, although they always kept the violence off the stage. Here the furies are unleashed before our eyes and director Shane Jones has choreographed the action so well that it is painful to witness.

While I'm a tad cynical about plays that lack balance and rely on shock tactics, I concede that Stephens' work has an undercurrent of rich complexity. You get the message, gradually, that the internal violence and sadistic homosexuality of the British Army was worse than anything the enemy could do. As a result this is not a play for the faint-hearted or the prudish.

Chris Perren's sound design is heavy on the ears. Kitty Taube's simple set design has a raw authenticity. The actors do fine work, mastering the south London accents and the manic, rapid-fire speech of men who sound as if they're constantly pumped on crystal meth.

The part of Danny is demanding and while Power produces some devastating moments, I sense he will create an increasingly cohesive character as the run continues. The most impressive performance comes from Sam Clark, who plays two totally different roles and is utterly convincing in both.

Achieved with no funding and a tight budget, 23rd Productions is contributing to the debate about where arts funding dollars are being spent.

MOTORTOWN - Review - absolutetheatre.com

PAULINE SMITH August 10, 2008

DANNY is a British soldier recently returned from Bazra and is trying to assimilate back into ‘normal’ life. This is proving harder than he thought. He has moved in with his brother who has impaired capacity and impulsive behaviours. His girlfriend, Marley, no longer wants anything to do with him; she has been scared by what he has written to her about his experiences in Iraq.

I found this an extremely hard hitting and moving production. Those of us who do not join the armed forces, who subsequently get posted to a war torn country, can sit at home here and feel awful about the atrocities being committed, the body count and express empathy for the families of those soldiers.

However, we do not know the daily violence, pressure and acts they are required to commit in the name of peace. Little wonder then, when they come home, what they have experienced as being normal in Iraq, is far from normal here and for some a little chip goes off in the brain.

This is how it is for Danny. Nobody understands what he has gone through. He is not coping and buys a gun to try and fix what he sees on the home front as decadence, people who don’t deserve to live for what he was fighting for. He is also starting to live in his own world, creating in his mind what he thinks is or should be his life.

The play was extremely well acted by the whole ensemble. Danny was ably played by Chris Power and I think he had him down pat. His moods moved very quickly from psychopath to nice, gentle guy in a few seconds and vice versa. Danny’s brother Lee was played by Robert Thwaites.

He portrayed Lee with such empathy that the audience was drawn into the character. Most of us at one stage in our life had dealings with people with disabilities and Thwaites did not take Lee overboard and make him silly.

He was Danny’s anchor in a way. Kathryn Fray played Marley, Danny’s girlfriend and Helen, a woman he meets in a pub with her husband. I didn’t quite recognise her as Helen at first the contrast was so different.

The same goes for Sam Clark who played Tom, Danny’s mate who sells him the gun, and Justin, the husband of Helen. Yvette Walker plays Jade, a young girl off the streets taken in by a somewhat nefarious character, Paul, played by Norman Doyle.

Yvette was very good as Jade, making her very believable as a 16 year-old, who did not know what she wanted to do in life. Norman Doyle was superb as well in his portrayal of Paul. He reminded me of some of the villains you see in UK crime shows and movies.

The play has been been well directed by Shane Jones. He brought out the emotions as they progress in each character. The set designed by Kitty Taube was very clever with a large piece sliding out which was used as a bench, counter top and table. The graffiti sprawled across gave the image of the town Danny goes back to in England.

While the changing of the scenes was cleverly done with the actors removing, moving and setting pieces to hard hitting music, although the piece right at the end resembled white noise. Excellent lighting and sound by Hamish Clift and Chris Perren completed the performance.

This is a wonderfully acted play and should not be missed. It is also a play that tends to hit you right between the eyes. Sometimes I think we all need a wake up call when we send people off to war torn countries, particularly the type of war that is being fought now. I don’t think there can be enough plays or movies about the impact this is having on the people involved. This play does contain adult themes, prolific coarse language (but not out of context), and a replica firearm.